Texas passes contentious abortion bill

Texas's senate has approved a contentious bill setting some of the strictest abortion limits in the US, weeks after the dramatic filibuster by Wendy Davis thwarted the measure.

State Senators, from second left, Sylvia R. Garcia, D-Houston, Wendy Davis, D-Fort Worth, Royce West, D-Dallas, Kirk Watson, D-Austin, and John Whitmire, D-Houston, greet abortion rights advocates to show they voted against HB2, which the Senate approved late Friday night. Republicans in the Texas Legislature passed an omnibus abortion bill that is one of the most restrictive in the nation, but Democrats vowed Saturday to fight both in the courts and the ballot box as they used the measure to rally their supporters. Photo: AP

The Texas bill, which was passed after a raucous midnight session of the local state legislature, bans abortions after 20 weeks and sets onerous new standards that the bill’s opponents say could shut all but five of Texas’s 42 abortion providers.

“Today the Texas Legislature took its final step in our historic effort to protect life,” said Rick Perry, the state’s Republican governor, welcoming the passing of the bill which he will sign into law this week. “This legislation builds on the strong and unwavering commitment we have made to defend life and protect women’s health.”

Democrats and pro-choice groups vowed to challenge the new legislation in the US Appeals Court. “There will be a lawsuit. I promise you,” said one Democrat senator on the Texas Senate floor.

Pro-life groups have been gaining ground in recent years in their attempts to roll back abortion laws, with some 18 states passing measures to restrict access to terminations in 2013, according to the Guttmacher Institute, a pro-choice research group.

The bill was reintroduced this month however with Republican legislators ensuring there were no avenues to block its passing, rejecting all 20 Democrat amendments to soften it.

Protesters from both camps gathered on Friday evening with placards outside the pink granite state legislature, and in the public viewing galleries of the Senate chamber.

“My body, my choice,” chanted the pro-life crowd while those supporting the bill wore blue, some carrying Bibles and crosses and holding signs that said “Unborn babies feel pain.”

Members of the public entering the chamber were screened by local police who searched everyone entering and recovered 18 jars containing what appeared to be faeces, one of suspected urine and three bottles of what they thought was paint.

They also confiscated large amounts of feminine hygiene products which sparked an outcry on social media. Four women were arrested for trying to chain themselves to a railing in the gallery while singing, “All we are saying is give choice a chance.”

While Republicans and pro-choice groups claimed victory, the bill’s opponents vowed to fight on against a bill that attracted protests that local media said had not been seen in Texas for 20 years and which opponents said would only serve to motivate and mobilise the pro-choice camp.

“Let’s make sure that tonight is not an ending point, it’s a beginning point for our future, our collective futures, as we work to take this state back,” Mrs Davis told 2,000 supporters after the bill passed.

Cecile Richards, president of Planned Parenthood Federation of America which offers family planning services to poorer Americans, predicted the Texas bill would backfire.

“All they have done is built a committed group of people across this state who are outraged about the treatment of women and the lengths to which this Legislature will go to take women’s health care away,” she said.